BlueSteps Career Management and Executive Search Blog

The BlueSteps Career Management Blog is written with a C-level audience in mind on career management topics ranging from executive compensation, executive resumes, and interview tips to networking, executive job search, and gaining visibility as a professional in one’s industry.

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5 Ways to Elevate Brand YOU

Understanding and communicating your brand will help you in all stages of your job search, as well as in managing your career going forward. Do you have a rock solid brand message that clearly and concisely is achieving the results you desire? If not, it’s no longer a “nice to have, but a must have.” Don’t waste valuable time when some of the best opportunities exist in the job market.

1. What do you have to offer? If you don’t know your strengths, skills, and talents, and how to showcase them, how do you expect others to get to know these things about you? Sometimes we are too close to see the whole picture. Career brand strategists can help you extract what you don’t see and know how to leverage. Become known for those talents in a compelling way.

2. Be your authentic self. Confidence comes from within as we all know. When you are honest with yourself and present yourself to others in an authentic way, you will be showing your courage and confidence about who you are and what you can accomplish. This can do more for you in an interview than you might think. People notice the confidence that shows in your face and body language, without you saying a word.

3. Unique value. What’s unique about you that sets you apart from your competition? The question many interviewers ask at some point in the interview is, “All things being equal (education, years of experience, etc.), why should I hire you over the other top candidates?” Consider the answer to that question as something that should be included in your personal brand statement.

4. Adopt the right mindset. Be aware of how people do business today and what’s most important for hiring managers to know about you. Even as few as five to 10 years ago, personal branding was different from today. Social media has had a huge impact on how executives’ online presence affects their personal brand. Candidates are being Google searched, so LinkedIn profile, Facebook page, and Tweets are vital tools for communicating your personal brand in a consistent manner. Watch out for any digital dirt that could exist and ruin your reputation/brand and have a plan to manage it.

5. Focus. With messages becoming shorter and shorter (tweets 140 characters), executives need to be able to laser in on their achievements, milestones, and skills in a sound bite. A recent study indicated that the first 75-80 characters are what people really read. A strong brand would include the most significant part of the message up front.

Louise Garver, coach with BlueSteps Executive Career Services (BECS), has guided executives across industries and disciplines to land their ideal position in less time while maximizing their compensation. She would be happy to share this vital information with you! Energize your search and learn how to navigate easily the complex job market with her step-by-step online and offline job search system.

About the author

Louise Garver, certified executive resume writer, branding and job search strategist/coach with BlueSteps Executive Career Services, has guided executives across industries and disciplines to land their ideal position in less time while maximizing their compensation. She would be happy to share this vital information with you! Energize your search and learn how to navigate easily the complex job market with her step-by-step job search system.

Learn more about the BlueSteps team of career advisors and the services they provide to help you improve your career trajectory here.